Teaching Philosophy

As a dancer, choreographer, and educator, I teach with heart, hope, and honesty, while creating an environment that promotes all-over health through dance. I seek to be an advocate for students and educators pertaining to: beliefs, values, mental wellness, and physical well-being. When teaching, I intend to provide meaningful opportunities for students to connect to their emotional and physical life experiences within movement. My philosophy is a living document. A manifesto that continues to evolve as I seek to understand my students, myself, and the world we dance and live in. 

 

Understanding My Students

With compassion and patience, I challenge students and push them out of their comfort zone. I do not force my voice into my students' creations but rather encourage and guide them to discover their own voice and use it. Voices are to be heard, not silenced. I believe in the change and light that will come from students, of all ages, using their voice in their work. With voice being crucial to understanding students, I push students to do the same in allowing others to use their voice both in conversation and artistically. I teach with an urgency to be kind and acknowledge the paths of others around them.

 

I have high expectations of students. Accompanied with confidence in my students, I am simply an usher to them achieving their goals both in and out of the studio and/or classroom. Although “can’t” is a bad word in my teaching space, I work where a student is. I provide individual feedback both in validation and encouragement to improve a developing area. Dancers grow through both physical and intellectual practices. The body and mind is a student’s ongoing experiment. A personal hub for research and discovery. Students in my classes develop technical skills, but also build intrapersonal intelligence and critical thinking skills through frequent cognitive learning. This combination of voice and vision allows me to cultivate understanding when assessing students.

 

Understanding Myself as an Educator

My teaching is informed by a combination of experiences: my secondary education dance training, my collegiate research, and my administrative work that involves engaging communities. I also draw from my mental and emotional experiences to guide my teaching and artistic creations. Ultimately my pedagogy aims to enrich students’ views of themselves and the people around them. As students in an ever-evolving world, I aim to shed light on students’ potential as artists and citizens, just as my teachers and mentors did for me. I believe I owe it to my students to create a welcoming community of peers that, at many times throughout my life, I did not have. I seek to be a friend when one cannot be found.

 

By teaching, I learn from the wisdom brought to the room by my students. I seek to provide an enriching environment for learning for all who occupy the shared space, whether that be physical or virtual. I do not ask my students to do something I wouldn’t. I rely on honesty, integrity, and individuality to carry the content of my classes.

 

Understanding My Community

Lessons I share with students are influenced by the world around us. Instruction changes and evolves as I learn from my community and the space I am in. I believe we, as human beings, are here to learn from each other and the experiences that come. Humanity, from the beginning of time, longs for learning. With a need to expand our intellect and understanding of life and beyond, the lessons I teach are not ruled by the moving physical body alone, but by deeper and perhaps more soulful lessons. I strive for myself and my students to notice deeply, to question and to embody ideas. Understanding that community is a key factor in my teaching philosophy, I wish to awaken students to who they are within a community. I yearn for my students to be themselves and know their voice as they make connections with the rest of the world: locally, nationally, and internationally.